A team of astronauts aboard the International Space Station discover a primordial Martian life form that quickly evolves into a vicious monster.

HORROR/SCI-FI

Life (2017)

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, ​​Ariyon Bakare, ​Olga Dihovichnaya

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Connor Eyzaguirre

March 25, 2017

8/10

I thought that the "Terror in Space" subgenre had been tapped out, with Alien covering the supernatural threat and Gravity dealing with factual fears. Lo and behold, someone had the brilliant idea to combine the two into a film that has all the grotesque monster imagery of Alien with the intense thrills of Gravity. That really is Life in a nutshell when you get down to brass tacks, though the film itself is highly enjoyable. It utilizes its talented cast and constricted set to deliver a heightened sense of paranoia and a monster that seems to be invincible. It's clear this film drew inspiration from H.R. Giger's immortal Xenomorph design, but cared enough about its own story that it comes across more as an homage than a blatant rip-off.

Life stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds as astronauts aboard the I.S.S. who discover a living organism with Martian origins. As they examine it, it begins to grow and quickly turns hostile, evolving into a bloodthirsty monster hellbent on reaching the surface of Earth. This film turns from a space drama to a psychological thriller on a dime as the monster, nicknamed Calvin, does everything in its power to kill the crew and bring the space station down to orbit. The performances are all fantastic, but the real star is Calvin. Its design is refreshingly original and exceptionally disturbing, particularly when it devours its victims. Without a great creature design, this film easily could've fallen apart.

Films like Life remind us how little we know about what lies beyond the orbit of our planet. We are a blue dot in an endless sea of darkness that is constantly expanding. There could be nightmares out there that we can't even fathom, and the only way we can ever find out is by seeking it out. I liked this film because it handled a horrifying first contact in a realistic way. When life beyond our planet is revealed to us, it won't be little green men. It'll be little gray cells with a biology we can't even begin to understand.